Has anyone ever dealt with "Happy Tail Syndrome"?

Brennan is currently suffering from a case of this. It's where they bang their tail on hard objects and bust it open. Apparently it's really difficult to treat and I can see why. I've been cleaning it thoroughly and started wrapping it today. Going to change the dressing once a day for the next few days to see how that goes. He keeps knocking it against stuff and making it bleed, so this should help. He's quite the happy boy.

Anyway, just wondered if anyone else had any treatment method suggestions to share.

Awww, Brennan! I'm glad you are happy, but I'm sorry you are knocking your tail on things! Please have your people give you a hug for me- maybe that will help a bit I hope your tail heals very quickly!

I've been Boo'd... right off the stage!

Aaahh, I have been defrosted! Thank you, Bonny and Asiel!
Brrrr, I've been Frosted! Thank you, Asiel and Pomtzu!

"That's the power of kittens (and puppies too, of course): They can reduce us to quivering masses of Jell-O in about two seconds flat and make us like it. Good thing they don't have opposable thumbs or they'd surely have taken over the world by now." -- Paul Lukas

Thank you everyone. It seems to be healing nicely if I can keep SOMEONE from chewing through the dressing

Originally Posted by Karen

This does make me wonder if this happened historically, and is why some breeds have docked tails!

Maybe so, Karen. If this becomes a recurrent problem they amputate some of the tail. Or at least that is what I read.

I had to duct tape the dressing (don't worry not that tight and not on his tail) yesterday to get it to stay, so today I just wrapped his entire tail and it seems to be working so far. Brennan chewed through the end of it last night, so let's hope he doesn't pull another one of those. His tail tissue looks really good, so maybe it it slowly healing.

He also has some allergies going on (we are pretty sure he is allergic to corn). He's lost weight where he hadn't been getting enough nutrition from the other dog food he was on, so he got switched to Nature's Select yesterday. His stomach is upset today, but that's probably from the food change. We're dealing with that in addition to his tail, but I think my sweet boy is slowly on the mend! He's already got more energy than he had

Glad it is healing! We always used to speculate with Gracie the Great Dane that her tail was just so far away from her brain that the connection was lost! We figured maybe she needed a "tail-only" secondary brain like some dinosaurs had.

Now, Brennan, be good, or Momma will have to dig out the Cone of Shame .....

Glad it is healing! We always used to speculate with Gracie the Great Dane that her tail was just so far away from her brain that the connection was lost! We figured maybe she needed a "tail-only" secondary brain like some dinosaurs had.

Now, Brennan, be good, or Momma will have to dig out the Cone of Shame .....

LOL! Poor Gracie.

Brennan is definitely a big tail wagger, so I can see how he easily did this. I just hope we don't have it happen again. If it doesn't get better like I want it to I may have to superglue the end of it to get the tissue to heal back together. I just felt kind of weird about having to superglue my dog's tail. And on the bright side of things, at least it hasn't gotten infected. That would've sent us straight to the vet for antibiotics. So far I've just been getting assistance from my awesome rescue friends who work with the pit bull rescue we volunteer for. They have been super awesome to Brennan.

I don't want to get him a cone, but if he chews it again looks like I'm gonna have to take a trip to Petsmart...

Oh, thank goodness! Silly Brennan, that tail does have nerve endings - you need to pay attention to those signals! Now to spoil him with treats so he gains a bit more weight and he'll be back to being perfect!

We have very commonly used a syringe case with the tip cut off taped on to the tail VERY generously. This seems to work very well, so long as the dog does not chew it off!! The case protects the tail from banging against stuff and is open to allow airflow and to promote healing. Obviously this depends on what stage you're on in the healing process.

SO GLAD to see her tail is healing as well as it is! My sister's dog was one of the kennel dogs while I was in school, and he had a pretty bad case of happy tail, nearly came down to amputation. These can take mooooooonths to properly heal, or longer! I have had to assist in many tip amputation surgeries from tails that just refuse to heal (be it owner compliance or "dog compliance"...). And always always always use an e-collar with these guys so they can't chew on it or chew off any dressing used on the tail!